


your soul is where I made my home

by DoorIsAjar



Category: citrus - サブロウタ | citrus - Saburouta
Genre: F/F, collection of similar one-shots, rated t for mention of Harumi's boobs, takes place after conclusion of manga
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 12:21:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16723302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoorIsAjar/pseuds/DoorIsAjar
Summary: Despite the support that Yuzu has from her parents and closest friends regarding her relationship with Mei, there are some people who have not come around—but Yuzu has a way of worming her way into people's hearts. (In which Yuzu manages to make everyone fall in love with their relationship without even trying.)





	1. you've got stars in your eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuzu lets it slip to her old friends that her fiancée is a girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For clarification, Kana and Manami are Yuzu's two older friends who are seen in chapters 1 and 23. Kana had the longer, dark hair; and Manami had the shorter, lighter hair. Chapter 23 in particular is important in regards to understanding this chapter. :)

"Kana just broke up with him last week."

"But you two were together for nearly a year!" Yuzu exclaimed, hands slapping the table in exasperation. The drinks on the table rattled at the dramatic display, but all three girls ignored it in place for their gossip.

"I'm honestly not that upset about it," Kana placated. "I was overlooking all of his flaws. Not intentionally, but I loved him, so I always tried to see the best in him."

"Kana..."

"It's okay, really. Once Manami pointed it out to me, I realized I was better without him."

Yuzu leaned forward to take a sip of her drink (fumbling a bit, as it had rattled an inch or so out of her reach from where she had originally left it) and nodded, not necessarily in agreeance, but in show that she was following along.

"There is actually this really sweet guy who likes Kana," Manami continued. "He didn't say anything before because Kana was in a relationship, but now— _Yuzu is that a wedding ring?!"_

And like that, Yuzu choked on her drink, coughing and gagging and pounding at her chest—meanwhile her two friends pulled her hand closer to peer at the band on her finger, entirely undeterred by Yuzu's racket and subsequent suffocation.

"Oh my gosh, why didn't you tell us?!" Kana exclaimed.

The two girls kept prodding at her hand, turning her palm up and down, raising it and spreading Yuzu's fingers apart—anything to see the ring better without taking it off or actually touching it.

"W-Well, we're _engaged,_ but the wedding isn't even planned yet," Yuzu explained, and she fumbled about the table with her free hand for a napkin to wipe her mouth of the liquidy mess she had made.

"But you're _that_ serious?" Kana asked. She finally pried her eyes from the ring to meet Yuzu's gaze.

Yuzu, however, refused to meet hers. Eyes glued on the ring, her voice took on a sweeter, more sincere tone. "I've never been more serious about anything before."

 _"Wow..."_ Manami sighed.

"When can we meet him?"

Instantly, Yuzu froze. Her hands clenched after a full beat of absolute nothingness, fingers slowly curling into a fist; and with Manami still trying to get a better look at the ring, the dopey, lovey-dovey air that had clouded her eyes was replaced with something a little thicker and uncertain at the action.

"I-I don't know."

"Come on, let's plan something then!" Kana urged. "I want to meet him before the wedding, at least."

"Yuzu..?" Manami interrupted. Yuzu pulled back her hands together and began rubbing, gently, the ring in between her pointer finger and thumb.

 _"Ah,_ I don't think that's a good idea." Yuzu laughed, but it was clearly forced. ( _Last_ time the staged laughter had worked, so there was no reason it shouldn't have worked this time, as well.)

"What? Why not?"

"I, um... T-That just doesn't seem like a good idea..." Yuzu stuttered.

Kana made some kind of irritated sound, something between a terse sigh and a groan of frustration. She leaned back in her seat, and the furrow to her brows alluded to her irritation and doubt. "Are you sure you really love this—"

"Yes!" Yuzu shouted, and both Kana and Manami recoiled at the abruptly overwhelming fire in her voice. "I love her more than anything in the world!"

She paused; a beat, then two.

And all at once, Yuzu's face paled, whiter than a sheet.

She'd let it slip.

That her _fiancée,_ her soon-to-be _wife..._

They weren't... They weren't supposed to _know,_ but this whole thing had come up so suddenly, and there had been no time to prepare. She didn't have any pre-conceived excuses or some fabricated story written up (and if she were honest, she probably wouldn't have been able to go through with a lie like that anyway because she loved Mei way too much to _purposefully_ hide it.)

Her eyes sickeningly slowly dropped to the table. She couldn't face their disgust again. Once was enough, _more_ than enough. They had made her question her love for Mei. And the thought alone, that she had been convinced—if only for a _second_ —that she shouldn't be in love with Mei, made her nauseated.

Yuzu reached for her phone on the table and shoved it fitfully into her purse.

Her hands shook, and her fingers prattled restlessly with the zipper to get it back closed.

Neither of her friends were saying anything, and the silence was more suffocating than the orange cream soda she had choked on not five minutes earlier.

It shouldn't have mattered. Mei was her everything, and _nothing_ would make her doubt that again. She was losing two friends in the process, though; and regardless of the reason, it still _stung._ And it stung that she knew she wasn't accepted—that _Mei_ wasn't accepted.

Her eyes prickled something bitter and warm. She tried to ignore the way her voice cracked when she spoke.

"E-Excuse me, I need to go."

Yuzu pulled out her chair, and she could vaguely feel her legs wobble beneath her. She would look like a complete fool if she went to stand and collapsed on herself, but what else was she supposed to do? She was done here; _they_ were done with _her._

Tears swam in her eyes, and she needed to blink to clear her vision, but suddenly something was holding her wrist in place.

_"Yuzu, wait!"_

Yuzu grit her teeth, squinting her eyes shut to try and contain the stupid tears.

"Wait. Please." This time, Manami's voice was soft. It was... soft, and pained. "We... We said some nasty things the last time we hung out, didn't we?"

And it was in Yuzu's nature to want to console her friends, to alleviate the guilt _("Of course not! Don't worry about it!"),_ but she _couldn't._ Their comments made her doubt her love for Mei, and something of a sob wrangled past her lips before she could manage to cover her mouth.

She nodded, and the grip on her wrist tightened.

A second chair was yanked back, its metal feet scraping angrily against the cobbled ground, and Yuzu flinched at the sound.

_"We support you!"_

Her head jerked up towards Kana. Her hands were planted into the table to lean across towards Yuzu; and her cheeks were flushed a dark red, although whether from embarrassment or her sudden burst of vigor, Yuzu didn't know.

"W-What?" Yuzu muttered, a hiccup punctuating her question.

"You're our friend, Yuzu. We said some lousy things before, and we're sorry." Kana looked down at Manami, who nodded eagerly in agreement. "We... We can't make that up to you, but we support you now—however we can. You're important to us."

"If you plan on marrying her, she must be amazing, Yuzu," Manami added in, and her voice held that same lovey-dovey air from earlier.

And suddenly, Yuzu's eyes were alight—by hearts or stars: one of the two, Kana and Manami decided.

"She is! Mei is wonderful!"

If it weren't for the tear tracks staining her cheeks, neither girl would have ever guessed that their blonde friend had just been crying.

"She's incredibly smart and hardworking. Her dedication to her family is unlike anything I've ever seen, and I respect her so much for it. She..."

Without so much of a precursor, Yuzu's speech slowed down as she became entirely lost in her own thoughts. She wasn't even looking at her two friends any longer, and her lips were turning up, slowly, hesitantly at first as she became more confident in voicing all of this (but who was she kidding, when it came to Mei, it didn't take long for her mind to take off on that one-way track, and it was near impossible to derail it once that engine got to rolling). It took but a handful of seconds before a smile had overtaken her face. It was, without a doubt in their minds, the brightest they had ever seen Yuzu—and honestly? If they hadn't been preoccupied with this whole new revelation, they would have questioned if Yuzu had ever truly been in love before because this? Her face? It was absolute bliss, if bliss could be personified.

"She's gorgeous, and it's hard to get through her tough exterior, but it's so rewarding to see all her other sides. Her face softens when she gets happy, and her laugh is the sweetest sound in the world. She talks in her sleep, especially when she's tired, and it's the cutest thing ever. Maybe even cuter than the way she blushes when she's embarrassed. She acts like she doesn't like hugs, which is also cute, but she loves them, and I love them, too, so it's a... a, _ergh..."_

Her eyes met Manami's own: wide and bright and focused entirely, solely, _completely_ on her.

Yuzu's face flushed red, a deep, _deep_ red, but her eyes darted between her two friends, desperate for one of them to break the silence, but they were _both_ just _staring_ at her.

Manami was the one to finally do the honor.

"I totally get what you meant last time..." She mumbled. Yuzu fixated on her, and she was surprised to find stars lighting her short-haired friend's eyes.

"What?" Kana asked, turning to her brunette friend. There, too, within her eyes, were stars.

"You know! The two girls were acting like they were in their own world, kissing and hugging and all that, and Yuzu had said that they just might really be _that_ in love with each other."

"Oh my gosh..." Kana whispered, and she slumped back down into her seat. "Yuzu, that's how _you_ are..."

"Yuzu's got it _baaaaaad."_

Yuzu couldn't deny it. She did have it bad; but she wouldn't have it any other way. Mei was her whole world, and she was head over heels over head over heels over—over and over again in love with her.

And she would get to spend the rest of her life with Mei. (Her heart skipped a beat then and there at the thought.)

So what if she was obsessed with her single greatest source of happiness?

"So..." Kana began, a renewed vigor in her voice. "When can we meet _her?"_

Yuzu blinked.

This... hadn't been how she had expected this to go.

She had imagined, on a few short occasions, how it would have played out, had Kana and Manami discovered her relationship with Mei. Every time, the scenario ended with her having two fewer friends, always in tears and always with that sickeningly deep, nauseated churning in her stomach in reminder of her momentary doubt.

The prospect of them supporting her, and now them wanting to _meet_ Mei...

All of this resolved by a simple slip of the tongue...

Yuzu laughed. She dragged a hand back up to to cover her face because there were tears falling reignited on top of the bubbles of joy and relief that were pushing past her lips.

"Yuzu..?" Kana spoke, tentatively. "Did we say something wrong?"

And Yuzu shook her head, pushing the words out over her embarrassing blubbering mess. "N-No, I'm-I'm _relieved."_

There was a pause, and Kana and Manami exchanged a look between one another.

With her elbow propped up against the table, Kana rested her chin within the palm of her hand. "She's really special, isn't she?" Her tone was warm and gentle, and Yuzu nodded into her hands.

"She's... She's more than special," Yuzu gushed, a light dusting of pink coloring her cheeks. "I want to make her happy. Forever."

Yuzu's mind was already dropping off into that endless realm of _Mei,_ and she jumped in her seat to the sudden sound of her phone's ringtone blaring from her purse.

She fumbled to collect the device, and her finger was poised over the _"Decline"_ button, intent on continuing the conversation with her two friends when she noticed who was actually calling her.

Yuzu's head shot up towards the two, a look between sheepish and frantic etched on her features. "I need to take this."

Kana laughed lightly, "No problem," while Manami waved her hand to dismiss the concern entirely.

"Thanks," Yuzu whispered, just as she accepted the call.

"Hello?"

A pause, as presumably the person on the other side spoke.

"Hey, Mei!"

And instantly, both Kana and Manami were leaning forward, attention riled and rooted on their blonde friend.

"What? No, no, don't worry about it! I'll be home in time to cook dinner!"

 _"So cute..."_ Manami whispered.

"If we need groceries, then I'll stop by the store before I come home."

A pause.

Yuzu gasped, clutching the phone closer to her ear.

"Mm-mm, that's no problem at all! I'll meet you at the train station in thirty minutes then and we can go together?"

 _"Agreed,"_ Kana replied.

There was another pause, this one a bit longer than the others, and then, the warmest, most gentle smile imaginable bloomed across Yuzu's cheeks. "I love you, too, Mei. See you soon."

Yuzu pulled the phone from her ear and stared at the screen, waiting for Mei to end the call. A handful of seconds passed before the _"Call Ended"_ note displayed itself on her screen.

With a small sigh, she replace her phone in her purse—and then returned her attention to Kana and Manami, both who had just watched the entire exchange.

"Yuzu," Kana started. She leaned closer and clasped a hand over Yuzu's, right atop the cell phone where Mei's name was still displayed. "That was literally the sweetest thing ever."

Manami leaned forward herself, an awestruck look to her face. "Can we walk with you to the train station?!"

_"Eh?!"_

"I promise, we won't intrude on your time to shop together! But I want to meet Mei!"

Kana gasped, and her grip tightened in excitement. "Can we?!"

"I... I guess?" Yuzu relented, and Kana and Manami promptly shrieked.

They began collecting their stuff from the table, rushing to their feet to make their way to the train station; and Yuzu couldn't tell which was better: the gigantic weight that had just been lifted off her chest, or the wonderful swell of joy taking that weight's place.

And when Mei finally walked up, exactly thirty minutes after the phone call had ended, introductions were exceptionally short because they were _far_ more excited to gush about the couple. And when Kana and Manami started _pouring_ out compliments like there was no tomorrow, about Mei's beauty and how adorable Yuzu was ( _especially_ when she herself started gushing about Mei) and how lucky the two of them were to be together, well, Yuzu struggled between rampant embarrassment and the incessant need to agree to every single wonderful thing they said about Mei.

She settled on silently sidling up to her _fiancée,_ slipping her hand within Mei's own and squeezing. She offered up a gentle smile, and, like she expected, her heart all but burst when Mei returned a soft smile of her own.

Yuzu did not, however, expect either Kana or Manami to be attentive enough to notice the small exchange (not with how engrossed they were with their incessant and unending praise).

That rampant embarrassment took hold as the two girls cooed and shrieked over how adorable the two were together.

And Yuzu honestly didn't know how she lucked out with these two, even with the blush furiously painting her face. (It was more than worth it to see that same blush capture every square inch of Mei's own adorably embarrassed face).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading my fic!
> 
> This will be a small collection of one-shots that all revolve around the same premise: Yuzu (unintentionally) having everyone come to love her relationship with Mei. The second chapter is about 99% complete and should be posted in two week. After that, I hope to update the next chapter more quickly!
> 
> As for this chapter in particular, how I characterized Kana and Manami was influenced by the bonus Wedding Invitation. How Manami was looking at Mitsuko was _quite_ influential, lmbo.
> 
> Anyway, I hope that you have enjoyed reading! :)
> 
> 11.24.18


	2. passion is crashing as we speak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mei's grandfather doesn't understand what Mei sees in Yuzu—and then he does.

It was the sound of unfamiliar laughter that stalled his feet and suspended his hand an inch from the door handle.

The door to his office was cracked. Just barely.

As chairman to the Aihara Academy, it was not in him to snoop and pry; but the sound of his granddaughter's voice compelled him to silence himself, slow his breathing and tread closer to the door to peer inside.

And instantly, a scowl overtook his face. His eyes narrowed, and his jaw tightened.

Seated together, in the very chair he had occupied for years as head of the academy, were his granddaughter and that... _girl._

He supposed the sight was not worthy of the way it made his blood pressure rise. They were merely sitting there, Mei reading and signing documents while Yuzu peered over her shoulder, rather attentively, he had to admit.

But then Yuzu said something, nothing more than a whisper and far too low for the Chairman to hear. And then—and _then —_

He felt a blood vessel burst, right as Yuzu's lips made contact with his granddaughter's cheek.

He clamped his jaw shut, tighter, _tighter,_ until something ugly popped within the confines of his skull. He was one breath away from barging into the office. His hands had balled into fists, and if he tightened the grip any further, he was bound to break skin and draw blood.

But he watched, as Mei set down her pen, and whatever she said next was drowned out by some combination between the angry blood roaring in his ears and the low tone with which she spoke. Her eyes never left the papers, but then all at once, Yuzu was opening her arms and collecting Mei into a hug.

She tightened the hold, pulling Mei closer and closer before relaxing the embrace with an exaggerated sigh.

At this point, he was _well_ beyond that one breath, but something still held him back. Maybe it was because Mei _let_ it all happen, or maybe it was the way that, after an initial moment of surprise, Mei returned the hug, lifting her arms around Yuzu's back.

Or maybe, maybe it was the way that Yuzu spoke next, something of an absolute whisper into Mei's ear, words meant for his granddaughter alone, and how her fingers ghosted along Mei's back, up and down along her spine and across her shoulder blades. It was all so... so intimate, in a way he couldn't quite explain.

He jolted to laughter—because it was not the _blonde_ one who laughed this time, but his own granddaughter.

It was soft and light, nothing longer than an exhale, but it was a blissful, honeyed sound that left his heart skipping a beat in some constricting emotion he couldn't give a name to.

Mei moved slowly, not out of hesitation, but as though she simply couldn't bring herself to truly agitate and break the moment. She buried her face into the side of Yuzu's neck where she could not be seen and, with a deep, weary sigh, melted into the older girl.

He... could not recall the last time he had heard laughter part from Mei's lips.

The Chairman swallowed thickly.

"You're tired," Yuzu mumbled.

Mei sighed once more, and she sprayed her fingers out along Yuzu's back. She did not give any verbal response, at least that he could hear.

For the six months that Mei had come to live with him, those six months she had been separated from Yuzu and from a woman who treated her as her own child and from an apartment that felt like an actual home—for those six months, Mei had been nothing but a—a shell of a person. Had she ever truly been more than that, prior to first living with those... new additions to the family?

And that, he had not even realized, not until _after_ she had once again returned to that apartment and away from him.

His granddaughter had worked—and worked and worked, tirelessly, often until she fell asleep with a pen between her fingers and a pile of papers secured under her deadened hand.

He _thought_ she had pushed herself for the great pride she had in the Aihara family. After all, she had been the one to turn to him; _she_ had been the one to demand the dramatic uptake in work; _she_ had been the one to push the wedding forward.

How poorly he had understood his granddaughter.

How utterly _wrong_ he had been about her intentions.

It had been out of some twisted sense of obligation—an obligation that would have chained her to some odd concept of Aihara pride for the rest of her life, drowned her in misery and expected her to live with it.

Had she been allowed to go through with the marriage to Udagawa, how would she have been now?

That, was a puzzling and uncertain thought, indeed.

Mei rather unwillingly pulled away from the hug, and he focused in on her face and realized, for the first time, that she looked just as exhausted as she had sounded.

But even now, under the throes of that exhaustion, she looked more alive than she had all six months that she had lived in his house.

His mind screeched to a halt, come up upon on a sudden dry rut of _nothing_ as Yuzu grasped at her shoulders, face flushed a bright red.

"Mei," Yuzu spoke, and she leaned in, her intention glaringly clear:

_Kiss her._

She was less than an inch from his granddaughter's lips when Mei planted her palm against Yuzu's face, squishing her cheek and pushing her back.

"One moment," Mei commanded.

Yuzu made some kind of odd throat groan but froze nonetheless, eyes shut and lips puckered.

Mei leaned across the desk, reaching for a picture frame.

He knew the photo within that frame very well: It was one of the three of them—Mei, his son, and the Chairman himself—and it was the only remnant of his family that he had allowed beyond the office doors.

And Mei was laying it face-down against the wooden mahogany of the desk.

Once she situated herself back in the chair, she took an extra moment, threading a loose band of hair behind her ear and drawing the cuffs of her sleeves further over the palms of her hands (both likely nervous ticks and things that he had never noticed about her); and then, _gently,_ she grabbed at the collar of Yuzu's uniform. She tugged the girl closer, closer, and Yuzu willingly, happily, obliged, up until their lips met.

 _Oh,_ how would Mei feel, to know her grandfather—not merely a photo of him, but the _real_ him—watched her kiss that girl.

The roaring was back in his ears. His toes dug into the tips of his shoes, and the tips of his shoes dug into the carpeted floor. It was the only thing keeping him from throwing open the door and dislodging that vile wench from his granddaughter.

But when they broke, when they released the kiss and pulled apart...

Mei was smiling.

She was smiling, something fragile and tender and _warm,_ and there was a light blush illuminating her cheeks in the most childishly innocent of ways, and her eyes were half-lidded as though she were trapped in a sort of blissful contentedness.

Never mind laughing. When was the last time he had seen his granddaughter smile?

And when Yuzu rested her forehead against Mei's, and when she whispered, "I love you," to his granddaughter...

Mei returned those very same three words.

Her eyes slid fully shut, as though to relish in the contact.

"You need to go home and sleep," Yuzu commented. Her eyes traced the features of Mei's face, and her hand came up to smooth out the collar of Mei's uniform from where it had uncharacteristically popped up.

There was a moment of hesitation, and then Mei sighed and reluctantly broke the contact.

"Not yet," she began and picked up her pen from where she had left it beside her current stack of documents. "There are still quite a few forms I need to fill out."

Yuzu pouted and folded her arms across her chest. But then, as though a light bulb had gone of in her head: "If we leave now, we can stop by the grocery store and get whatever you want for dinner."

Mei scribbled something at the bottom of her current document. "I will be happy with anything you make, Yuzu."

A beat, then two, then three—and then Yuzu's face colored red, and she collapsed against the back of the chair, muffling a whine of joyful embarrassment into her hands.

"You are free to go home if you would like," Mei continued.

She flipped to the next sheet, just as Yuzu shot up. "No way! I like spending time with you, even if it's in this stuffy old office."

There was a pause, and the Chairman dared to step closer, strangely fearful to miss what Mei would next say.

She stilled her writing, but she did not look over at Yuzu. "...I like spending time with you, also."

Considering how Yuzu had reacted to the last semi-sweet thing Mei had said, he had expected her to blush scarlet once more. But instead, she sat in silence, seemingly mesmerized at the confession. Her lips sat parted as Mei continued working.

It took a bit of a delay and a handful of blinks to clear the cloudy buzz of delight swirling around her mind, but Yuzu finally wrangled words out.

"Mei?"

"Yes, Yuzu?"

"Can we go on a date this weekend?"

"...I do not see why not, as long as you are caught up on your studying."

"What you don't know is I'm already ahead of the game, Mei!"

"Then I see no reason why we can't."

He _thought_ he had come to know his granddaughter fairly well.

That was apparently not the case, as he had been repeatedly made aware of.

Her words were rather bland on their own, but her tone. Her tone held the slightest hint of something warm, something of... excitement.

And it was clear that Yuzu caught this, as well.

She let Mei continue her work for a few seconds before she shifted closer and rested her head on the younger girl's shoulder.

"Where would you like to go?" Yuzu questioned. She introduced the topic carefully. (Perhaps she was aware that all of her talking was just prolonging the amount of time they had to spend in the office.)

"I don't mind."

 _"Meeeeeeeeei,"_ Yuzu whined.

"Anywhere is fine, Yuzu."

"But I want to do something you would enjoy!" She pulled on the sleeve of Mei's uniform, and the younger girl sighed as her pen smudged across the page.

"I would enjoy anything you picked out," Mei attempted to placate as she reached for a small container of white-out within one of the desk's drawers.

"How do you know that? What if I pick out something really boring?" Yuzu asked. Her tone was a little sheepish as she peered down at the ugly black smear across the paper.

"...I will be with you, will I not?"

There was a hilt of silence in their conversation, and the Chairman's attention drifted to Yuzu, just in time to see her sputter and bury her face in her hands and the side of Mei's shoulder.

"O-Of course, but I would really like to do something that you would like to do, Mei!"

Mei closed the bottle of white-out and returned it inside the drawer.

"Crepes."

"Crepes?" Yuzu repeated.

"Yes. Crepes."

Yuzu smiled. "Okay. But we have to get different flavors!"

Mei prodded the form with her finger, testing to see if the white-out were still wet. "Why?" Her finger came off dry, so she reached for her pen and signed her name across the bottom of the paper.

"So we can share!"

Mei gave a small hum in response, just as she flipped her current document over into the completed stack. She pulled a new sheet in front of herself and then reached across the desk, hand finding the frame she had set face down earlier before—

"Wait."

Yuzu's hand gripped Mei's wrist, just enough to stop her. There was a gentle dusting of pink to her cheeks and across the bridge of her nose.

"One more?"

Mei didn't acknowledge her request with any kind of verbal affirmation, but she captured Yuzu's lips with her own, quick and chaste. When she pulled back, Yuzu leaned forward, just a hair, before realizing the kiss had ended and Mei had turned to prop the picture frame up, all as though nothing had happened.

The Chairman retracted from his spot and straightened his back. He had lost track of how much time he had spent standing there (and he was not willing to dedicate time to that quandary because it was bound to fill his stomach with a grimy, sleazy feeling).

He adjusted his tie, raised his glasses more properly atop his nose—

And then he knocked on the door and slid it open without a hint of hesitation (because, after all, this was technically his office).

Instantly, he was welcomed with an overly cheery "Hey, Gramps!" (and he couldn't help but notice that Mei did not say anything, as though she had grown accustomed to the way Yuzu greeted him and to the little nickname she had given him).

"Hello, Grandfather."

Yuzu slipped closer to his granddaughter, not for any particular reason, but just to be _closer;_ and there it was again.

That smile, that soft up-turn to his granddaughter's lips; and if he looked close enough, he could have sworn he saw something flash in her eyes, something... There was definitely something otherworldly lighting those violet irises because his granddaughter had never looked like _that_ before.

And all of it— _all_ of it—was directed at that girl, _because_ of that girl.

He wondered, if Mei knew what her face looked like at that moment, how soft it was, how gentle her features were, how glaringly _obvious_ it all betrayed that she was in love—

He jolted where he stood.

He glanced between the two, but he wasn't focusing on whatever words the blond was saying to Mei.

No, he was struck by the realization, that Mei...

Mei was in love.

His granddaughter was in love with this girl.

He already _knew_ that, but it was all at once hitting him, where the sight was right in front of him and clear as day, and it left him in nothing short of a stupor.

 _"Yuzu, please,"_ Mei whispered.

He blinked out of his daze to the sound of Mei's voice. Yuzu had dragged her into another hug.

And that, that furrow to her brows, and the downturn of her eyes to the floor: that was the most uncomfortable Mei had looked all night.

It was not because Yuzu was hugging her, no. It was because he was here to see it.

He cleared his throat.

"Mei."

Her eyes shot up to meet his.

"Yes, Grandfather?"

His eyes flickered over to Yuzu, who was staring at Mei with the most captivated look that he had ever seen a person let so willingly consume their features.

And then his attention fell back to Mei, whose eyes held a bout of apprehension and uncertainty, two things out of... out of an unknown number of emotions that he knew were caused by him. Him and her fear that she, that _this,_ was a disappointment to him.

He knew the very last thing she wished was to bring shame onto the Aihara name—yet she could not very well relinquish this _girl,_ this... abundantly integral source of happiness and love.

So what should happen, if her love for Yuzu did just that?

He sighed, and something rattled around in his chest, something mucus-like and sickly. The cooling weather certainly wasn't helping his already waning state.

"Your work has been greatly appreciated." Already, there was a clear expression of shock morphing his granddaughter's face. "You should leave for the night."

Her eyes widened a fraction of an inch. The pause between his words and Mei's reply stretched just beyond that comfortable threshold, and Mei knew she had to say something, but... What could she say to words that she had never anticipated hearing?

"It is no trouble, Grandfather. There is not much work left to be completed."

Her voice was a strange mix of things. Shock, which was already playing with her features, along with some sense of relief, just as she stopped struggling altogether against Yuzu's affection (maybe even happiness in that she did not have to fight against it while he was in the same room).

And just... _perhaps_ it was because that girl was smiling up at him, but the Chairman could very well feel the corners of his own mouth pull up.

He coughed, distilling any chance of that expression taking hold of his lips.

"Nonsense, I will finish the rest. It is far too late for you to remain working. You will surely miss dinner, otherwise." His tone was rigid, stern, even; but it didn't match his words.

Yuzu gasped, and he fought the entirely foreign inclination to laugh at how overtly comical the whole thing was.

"I told you!" Yuzu exclaimed.

Mei merely sighed, but no longer was her face so tense. If anything, he swore that the faintest ghost of a smile was puling at her lips once more, as small as it was this time.

When the two girls departed after a handful of customary thanks and farewells, Yuzu leading his granddaughter out hand-in-hand, he thought, that if Mei were happy, then he... Well, he...

He couldn't yet control the rise to his blood pressure at the sight of those kisses and hugs. And he couldn't help the clench to his chest, the _fear_ that this was not the best for Mei.

But he had already gone and proven to himself how entirely mistaken he was about that, hadn't he? He had already provided that "not the best" for Mei, in the form of not one, but two failed arranged marriages. It was because of that... because of _Yuzu_ that his granddaughter was laughing and smiling and above all else _happy._

He plopped down into the chair with little grace and heaved a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. He eyed the stack of papers with an air of exhaustion before drawing the first sheet to himself.

He hadn't once considered that Mei was _not_ happy, but the thought was jarring—because under that stoic, leadership figure of a man was a grandfather. And as Mei's grandfather, he should want nothing more than for his granddaughter to be happy.

He had obviously failed at seeing what did and what did not make Mei happy.

And clearly, Yuzu made her happy.

Far happier than he could recall his granddaughter ever being.

And if Mei were happy, then, well, he should be nothing but happy for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for checking out the second chapter! 
> 
> (Also, all of the titles are taken from songs, so I can't take credit for any of them, lmbo.)
> 
> I hope that you've enjoyed the story so far. :)
> 
> 12.8.18


	3. unconditionally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Udagawa did not have experience with love—but if he had to speculate what it looked like to be in love, Yuzu and Mei would be his best guess.

Udagawa had noticed a few minutes back how Mei was struggling against sleep.

The efforts were futile, really. It had started with the usual tells, like rubbing her eyes and hiding a yawn or two behind her hand.

It had progressed into fluttering eyelashes and a nodding head that would jerk upright the moment it tipped just a _tad_ too far forward.

_"Mei."_

Yuzu's whisper drew his attention, but he didn't peer up at the mirror, his eyes focused on the road.

"Take a nap. I'll wake you when we get there."

Of course, Mei declined, insisting they continue their conversation on... whatever it was they had been talking about.

But not five minutes later, Mei was out, her head finding home on Yuzu's shoulder.

And of course, Yuzu hadn't been even remotely upset to find her ramblings cut short. No, if anything, she seemed to be all the more endeared. Her face grew... soft, a smile delicately tugging at her lips. And as she pulled Mei closer, Udagawa caught the small kiss Yuzu left on the crown of her head.

Yuzu was already a love-sick fool—Matsuri's words, not his—but this?

Yuzu didn't waste a moment with Mei asleep, as though that time was something that needed to be treasured.

...Well, Udagawa couldn't exactly claim to be a romantic guy, so those cheesy statements were completely baseless; but each time he glanced at his rear-view mirror, he could have sworn he understood love just a _little_ bit more by all of Yuzu's tiny, heart-strung gestures.

Thread her fingers through Mei's raven locks.

Cup her cheek, fingers just ghosting the skin in fear of waking her.

Fidget closer, despite there already being virtually no space between them to begin with.

Yuzu's attention was already a hard thing to grasp when it was so often funneled into this tunnel vision of _Mei._ But with Mei asleep? When she could so freely just _stare_ at the love of her life?

Harumi had called Yuzu's name _four times_ before she had been drawn from her trance. That trance being Mei, of course, and her cheeks bloomed a bright red in embarrassment at clearly having been too deeply invested in the younger girl.

Stuttered apologies followed, but—

_"It's okay, Yuzu. It's cute how in love you are."_

—some sweet words from Harumi and a friendly ruffling of her already-messy hair had Yuzu relaxing back into Mei.

"So, Yuzu, as I was trying to say..."

The car lulled into low, amiable chatter; even Matsuri in the passenger seat was considerate enough of Mei to not pester Yuzu with more teasing that would turn her into a blubbering, stuttering mess.

And an hour later, after Udagawa had pulled into the parking lot of his boarding house, he had been put in charge of the luggage.

More accurately, everyone else had left without a second glance at their belongs or a thought as to how it all would magically appear in their rooms later that evening. Harumi and Matsuri had already busied themselves with each other, bickering about who-knows-what, while Yuzu and Mei?

He leaned into the trunk, reaching for the final two pieces of luggage crammed up against the back of the rear seats.

He was organizing one of the open compartments that Harumi had dug through during the ride in search of a snack when Yuzu began shifting in the middle row.

"Mei... Mei, we're here..." Yuzu whispered.

A small, tired moan sounded from Mei in response, although instead of righting herself to vacate the car, she nestled closer to her human pillow.

Yuzu giggled, mumbling a tender "Wake up, sleepyhead," before kissing Mei's temple.

Udagawa fumbled with the luggage, stuffing a bra inside. A light blush at the offending garment colored his face, but a smile still managed to capture his lips at the pair, seemingly lost in their own world.

"You know, I'm not as oblivious as you might think," Yuzu laughed, right as Mei righted herself and rubbed the drowsiness from her eyes. "You're tired because you were up all night. Were you excited for the trip?"

Udagawa wasn't surprised by the unamused sigh from Mei. What he _was_ surprised by was the banter from the younger girl, concealed as it was by her tone.

"So what if I was?"

Udagawa would have expected Mei to shoot down such a claim without a moment pause—but she had merely added fuel to Yuzu's fire with that one.

 _"Pfft,_ what are you, Mei, five?"

"No."

Yuzu was a nice girl: funny, caring, and tended to laugh a lot. But the teasing was Matsuri's job, so this was entirely new to Udagawa. That wasn't to mention she was teasing _Mei._

"I think it's sweet, Mei."

...That wasn't teasing. Yuzu may have even sounded a bit embarrassed by that admittance.

"With all that time you spent awake, I'm sure you thought of things you wanted to do, though, right? So just tell me whatever you want to do, and we'll do it."

Udagawa zipped shut the luggage.

There was a small warmth in his chest in response to those words, and they weren't even directed at him.

Neither of them had been particularly discrete, even as Mei mumbled something about wanting to "try fishing this time," but he waited until Yuzu had dragged Mei out of the car before he shut the trunk closed.

 

* * *

 

_"Mei!"_

His head shot up at the call, right in time to see the conversation between Mei and Himeko broken and the pair turn towards the source of the noise.

The source, though, was directly behind Mei; and she had hardly planted her foot to the left before she was met with a pair of arms clutched around her neck and a chin planted into her left shoulder.

The blush to her cheeks came when Yuzu nuzzled her own cheek against Mei's rosy skin.

"Come fish with me!"

The whole thing was entirely playful in nature. The childish endeavor was just further accentuated by the fact Yuzu had managed to clasp the hook at the end of her fishing rod into the bill of her cap. How she had managed to do that, though, he had no—

"Manager, what are you looking at?"

He jolted, and from his crouched position beside the barbecue, he collapsed back onto his butt.

To his right, Matsuri crouched down beside him, but she was more focused on finding what he had been so interested in.

He pointed over towards the lake, where Himeko was shouting at Yuzu as the girl burst at the seams with laughter. "Aihara-san," he answered. "She is rather lively."

Matsuri's attention drifted over to the trio, right as Himeko walked off towards the house. That left Yuzu and Mei together, the former of the two waving her arms excitedly and babbling on about something most-likely fishing-related.

Udagawa sighed and crossed his legs where he sat. He had been fiddling with the barbecue in the hopes of getting it set up before the girls could manage to catch enough fish for dinner, but Yuzu's energetic glee had been far more entertaining.

He had made little progress in regards to the barbecue as a result.

"Who put them in charge of fishing?" Matsuri whined.

Udagawa laughed lightly under his breath as he started to vaguely mess with the wooden pieces. "Aihara-san insisted. Taniguchi-san was fishing with her a moment ago, but I'm not sure where she left to."

Matsuri made a noncommittal grunt, followed by a mumbled something that sounded vaguely like "lizard" and "boobs."

Over towards the couple, Yuzu had wrapped her free arm around Mei's own and was nothing short of a jumble of energy as she rambled on about something Udagawa couldn't hear. Mei sighed as she reached up to pry free the hook from Yuzu's hat, but a gentle smile captured her lips when Yuzu laughed at the endeavor.

He didn't miss the quick kiss Yuzu sneaked onto Mei's cheek once the hook was freed, nor did he miss the reddening to her face from the cheeky stunt.

Prying back Udagawa's attention, Matsuri made to stand, brushing off her shorts and tugging her shirt more properly into place. She regarded him with a nonchalant "Enjoy setting up your barbecue," and wave before walking back towards the pavilion.

Despite her parting words being the farthest thing from sympathetic, Udagawa returned a wave of his own and a small thanks.

He continued toying with the pit, lining up the logs of neatly-chopped wood one-by-one. A row of six, followed by a row of five, the edges of the top plunged into the crevices of the bottom.

It was no wonder why Matsuri had been so adverse to setting it up; it was sheer boring. After he finished this task, he would need to find a lighter of sorts to start a fire. He should have asked Matsuri to dig around for one; there were bound to be a few inside.

But she was also a guest, and she had been headed towards the pavilion, not the house, so that would have been out of her way.

Out at the lake, Mei held the fishing rod with both her hands with one of Yuzu's own clasped atop, the other perched on Mei's far shoulder to draw her closer. Yuzu was a bag of expressions, face jumping from one to the next as she explained to Mei what to do and a whole slew of other things.

Seeing them like that, so... content to do nothing but be in each other's presence... It was _difficult,_ now, to imagine.

Him and Mei.

Together.

...Married.

It hadn't sounded so bad at first.

His older brother was set to inherit the family business; his life had been carefree, entirely devoid of responsibilities that amounted to anything more than him and his little café. The arranged marriage had given him a momentary taste of that responsibility; and he had to admit, he had liked it.

That wasn't to mention Mei herself.

She was responsible, just like his brother, if not more.

Smart, too, and not just smart: smarter than himself.

And it went without saying that she was gorgeous. It was no question how Yuzu had fallen for her.

His cheeks flushed lightly, and he busied his hands with the barbecue pit to clear his mind.

That was _not_ to say he wanted to be with Mei.

No, definitely not. He had no desire to be with her any longer.

He hadn't had time to develop a romantic attraction, anyway, but he certainly liked Mei as a friend, and that was the extent of his affection.

_"Reel it in, Mei, you hooked one!"_

Yuzu's shout startled him more than Matsuri's unannounced visit.

She pulled at Mei, shouting in excitement and far too elated to realize that she was just jostling her fiancée more than she was helping anything. She couldn't bring herself to stand _still,_ but it was endearing. And really, if Mei had wanted Yuzu to stop, she would have; but he had a suspicion Mei was enjoying it just as much as Yuzu, even if she wouldn't voice it.

It only took a handful of seconds before the surface of the lake began bubbling, and bubbling, and then something breached the surface, bringing with it a shower of water.

A small shower of water, anyhow, considering just how _small_ the fish was that they had caught.

That mattered little to Yuzu, though. She was a pure bundle of laughter, pestering Mei to _"Look at the fish! Look at the fish!"_ all while jumping around and hollering in unfiltered glee.

In the next second, Yuzu latched onto Mei, tugging at the collar of her shirt to pull her into a kiss. It was sloppy and quick, laughter ringing the entire full second their lips had connected, but Udagawa had truthfully never seen two people so—

_"No kissing in public!"_

It took less than a second for Yuzu to push herself from Mei, face going a comically deep red as she frantically searched for whoever had called them out. Face painted just as deep a scarlet as Yuzu's own, Mei dropped the rod in its entirety into the lake in her embarrassment, hands rushing to cover her face.

To their right, Harumi laughed at the pair, even with Matsuri clinging to her from behind. The pink-haired girl was busy complaining about the heat; but she was touting nothing but nonsense: a lizard was in her hand, and its trajectory was approaching her senpai's exposed cleavage, so, no, the "overbearingly dense heat" was _not_ her top priority.

Harumi, however, hadn't taken note at all yet, still badgering Yuzu about her impromptu PDA.

Yuzu herself darted between Harumi while babbling some incoherent rebuttal; and the lake, where whatever Mei had managed to catch was most definitely swimming away.

Udagawa merely chuckled, returning to the tedious job of setting up the logs.

 

* * *

 

Yuzu had been missing for well over twenty minutes, Mei for at least fifteen.

The older girl had excused herself midway through dinner after a comment to Mei about the restroom. Mei herself had slipped away without anyone noticing her absence—at least until Matsuri had caught wind of it and had begun making wild claims and suggestions, most of which were _not_ PG-friendly.

Entering the house with a handful of dirty dishes and a spare lighter that Matsuri had found and subsequently begun waving around—an annoyance to Harumi and a threat to Himeko's twin-tails—Udagawa decided to check for Yuzu and Mei.

He did not, however, expect to find Mei crouched outside the bathroom door on his way to the kitchen. Her eyes were shut, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose.

He... wasn't supposed to be here, was he? Or, well, see this, whatever _this_ happened to be, right?

Mei knocked.

"Yuzu—"

_"No, Mei, this is disgusting!"_

Mei sighed before leaning her forehead against the wooden barrier.

"Yuzu, open the door."

Nothing but silence greeted Mei, and she reached up with one hand to try the door knob. It wiggled, half an inch to the left, and then the right, but there was no click of the door opening.

"Yuzu—"

Retching from inside the bathroom cut her off this time, and a grimace contorted her face into a pained expression.

Udagawa furrowed his eyebrows, and his nose crinkled.

"Aihara-san," Udagawa suddenly whispered.

Mei's head shot up towards him, eyes wide in shock, but any words she may have wanted to say died on her tongue. He held a finger in front of his lips, shushing her. From his pant's pocket, he drew out a ring of keys. It probably wasn't professional to go and unlock bathroom doors, but...

He did have these keys for emergencies.

And by how nervous Mei looked, and by how... revolting the noises coming from the other side of the door were, he considered this enough of an emergency.

So, slipping the key into the lock, he turned it; and the knob clicked right at the same time Yuzu started gagging once again.

He had hardly propped open the door before Mei was slipping inside, knees dropping next to Yuzu, who had her face pressed into the toilet. She moaned into the commode; and for once, he could see Mei hesitate.

It wasn't out of disgust, no, for her own face was precariously close to Yuzu's own. It was out of... ignorance. That was his closest guess.

Mei didn't know what to do in a situation like this. At least, that was what his gut was telling him.

The moment her hand touched Yuzu's back, she stalled again, limbs freezing up at Yuzu's voice.

"Mei, _leave."_

A fire was alight in her voice, and it was an uncomfortable feeling, standing there at the door and watching as Mei—uncertain enough already—was being chastised for caring.

Of course, that wasn't Yuzu's intention; he had seen enough to realize just how much she cared for Mei, and she wouldn't be _angry_ at the younger girl for something like this. No, if anything, if Yuzu weren't sick, she would be some variation of a blushing mess and a dote falling all the further in love. Most likely, Yuzu was frustrated at herself—as well as the fish that had settled poorly over dinner.

He watched Mei's mouth open—then close, eyebrows furrowing and hands hovering yet too unsure and strung-up to truly place them anywhere.

He was tempted to step in and offer some kind of assistance—it was a miserable sight with Yuzu kneeled in front of the toilet, moaning as nausea whipped up her stomach into an uncomfortable fit—but then Mei balled her fists at her lap, and her eyes settled into a fierce glare.

She leaned closer to Yuzu. When she spoke, her voice was nothing like the determined look in her eyes. It was... just as warm as every other word he had heard the couple exchange.

"No."

Udagawa's lips curled up. He couldn't hide that; but he did choke down the inclination to laugh as Yuzu groaned again into the toilet.

"Meeeeeiii..." The younger girl's name transitioned into a low, pained moan from the back of Yuzu's throat.

Mei hands began collecting Yuzu's blond hair, gently dragging it behind her shoulders where she held it bunched together in one hand.

Her other hand went to Yuzu's shirt, where her fingers delicately slipped under the hem, coming to rest on the older girl's stomach.

He silently slid the door shut, right at the same time Yuzu began mumbling, _"I didn't want you to see this, Mei..."_

_"...I was going to see you like this at some point."_

Ah... He wished he could have seen Mei's face for that. Her tone was even softer than that one-word denial. It was a gentleness he had never heard from the girl before.

He knew Mei loved Yuzu, but clearly there were sides to her that she didn't allow anyone _but_ Yuzu to see. And this smoothing out of the edges, this discarding of the rigid Aihara persona in place of nothing more than a girl who was worried for the person she loved...

Well, he didn't know if he would ever quite see this again from Mei—unless, it came to Yuzu.

...So... maybe at their wedding?

He had truthfully begun looking forward to that the moment the marriage had been called off.

When the two girls had returned that night with their decision made, Udagawa hadn't been surprised. It was a decision he had anticipated, had _hoped_ for, even. Yuzu and Mei had been in tears, cheeks flushed and eyes glossy, but the relief and the ecstasy radiating off of the couple had been undeniable. He had felt it, simmering just under some undefinable surface, contained only by the need to explain themselves after all this time.

Yuzu was the personification of a coil-spring loaded with happiness, and she could hardly restrain herself when it came to matters of love. The rings had only been his first inclination towards just how head-over-heels she was for Mei, even if he hadn't known her love was for Mei at the time.

But that feeling, like a vibration in the air that couldn't be contained—he had felt it just as strongly from Mei. He had seen it, too, in the way she gravitated towards Yuzu when they happened to step just a foot too far apart, and in the way her eyes had flickered to the older girl throughout the night, as though unable to take her attention off of her for too long.

His thoughts were interrupted by a groan from inside the bathroom.

" _You can't say stuff like that while I'm dying, Meeeei..."_ Yuzu finally managed to retaliate.

_"Like what?"_

_"You just implied that we're going to be together for... **eugh...** a very long time..."_

It _just_ might have been a magical moment if Udagawa didn't know that Yuzu was keeled over the commode during this sweet exchange.

And then there was more gagging as Yuzu vomited again, and he didn't know if it were more magical because they could be all lovey-dovey while dinner was making a reappearance, or just flat out disgusting.

If he were more romantic, he probably would have gone with the former. His experience in that department included one failed almost-marriage, so, really, his experience didn't amount to much.

 _"Go outside, Mei..."_ Yuzu moaned.

_"I'm staying here."_

_"At least go outside the door... It smells in here."_

And if he thought Mei's voice had been soft earlier, her next words were nothing but feather-light.

_"I mean here with you."_

_"I'm all nasty, Mei..."_

_"You are."_

**_"Mei!"_ **

Something suddenly and uncomfortably clenched in his chest. Yuzu's voice was wet from tears, and he tensed as a sob spilled from her lips.

_"I'm not leaving."_

Those three words dug deeper than they should have, but his mind was frazzled from Yuzu's pained noises, so he couldn't place why they might have felt so important.

Yuzu mumbled something too low for him to hear from outside the bathroom, and then he was met with a strange silence.

He should have left a while ago—the moment Mei had slipped through the door, really.

But what if they needed something? What if this were something more than just a bad reaction to the fish Yuzu had eaten?

He raised his fist to the door, prepared to knock, but a low hum of sorts cut him off before he could connect.

Then, in nothing more than a whimper,

_"...Don't stop... That feels nice..."_

He wasn't certain what Yuzu was referring to, but her crying had ceased, so Mei had likely done something to help. Maybe rubbing her back, tracing small circles around the cottony material of her shirt; or lightly ghosting her nails across Yuzu's stomach, drawing away the pain with a ticklish numbness.

That nice serenity was broken a moment later by a guttural, _"Oh, God —"_ followed by a couple... unpleasant noises as Yuzu struggled to expel more from her already-emptied stomach.

_"Mei —"_

_"It's okay."_

_"But Mei, there's throw-up on your arm..."_

_That_ sounded like his cue to leave, and the last thing he heard was, _"It'll wash off."_

He had to admit, the blatantly uncaring attitude Mei had for the literal vomit on her arm was sweet in its own regard.

 

* * *

 

When Udagawa next entered the boarding house, hands full with empty cups and a jug for juice that needed refilling, the couch was occupied.

At first, he only noticed Mei with the top of her head peaking above the back; but curiosity got the best of him when he called her name and got no response.

Stepping around the side, he paused to the site he beheld.

It was the likeliest conclusion he should have come to when Mei didn't say anything, but, well, now he knew: she was asleep. Her cheek was pressed into the back of the couch, and her chest rose and fell in deep, even breaths. Mei's face, though, was pinched, as though her worries had chased her even into slumber.

Udagawa didn't have a hard time guessing what those "worries" may have been. In fact, her greatest "worry" was asleep on the couch right alongside her.

On Mei's lap, face curled into her stomach and free arm wrapped loosely around her fiancée waist, was Yuzu. Her faint snoring puttered against the younger girl's shirt, and her legs were bent as though to wind closer to Mei, despite having the full length of the couch to herself.

A blanket was spread over her, but it hung halfway off the side of the couch and draped onto the floor. Mei's arm lied across the dip of Yuzu's own waist to hold it in place, at least a little. Her fingers were threaded through Yuzu's blonde hair from having fallen asleep in the middle of her ministrations.

No book, not even a phone, at that, were in sight; and he assumed Yuzu had fallen asleep first—so how had Mei spent her time until sleep had claimed her, as well? Focusing on the threads of hair as she twisted the blonde curls between her fingers? Or running her palm along the curve of Yuzu's back until her slim hold on consciousness fell through?

It wasn't until Udagawa returned with hands empty—aside from the now-full jug of orange juice—that either of the girls stirred.

"Mei..?" Yuzu whispered.

Udagawa froze midway between the opening from the kitchen to the lounge. The juice sloshed around inside the container, and he wasn't entirely sure why he felt the need to remain hidden, but he _did,_ so the noise—unreasonably loud in the silent and empty house—had him grimacing.

But then Yuzu was curling inwards, closer to Mei and burying her face deeper into the other girl's stomach as she made herself comfy. The blanket was a bunched up mess around her abdomen, forgotten in place of Mei.

Yuzu sighed a light, content noise before mumbling into Mei's belly.

"Thanks for taking good care of me."

Udagawa couldn't claim to be an affectionate guy, but the soft, sleepy moan from the back of Mei's throat, and the twining of her fingers still threaded through Yuzu's hair—both little unconscious things done entirely in sleep that Yuzu probably loved to pieces right along with everything else Mei did—warmed his heart.

So with that knowledge, he was curious as to how much of a loving mess Yuzu's own heart was.

He stood rooted there for a moment longer, just enough to hear the sleepy, nonsensical mumble from Yuzu as sleep drowned out her consciousness once more.

He released a small sigh of relief, and he found that a smile had worked its way onto his face without even realizing it.

And then the door was slamming open, scaring him half to death, and the annoyingly teasing tone of a certain pink-haired girl calling out _"Manager!"_ grated on her ears.

His legs bent and twisted in his sudden stupor, feet fumbling and rushing towards the exit to keep the girl _out_ before she could manage to wake the sleeping pair.

 

* * *

 

Yuzu and Mei were the last two on his drop-off route. And as he set their suitcases out on the sidewalk, shutting closed the trunk, he found something abruptly being shoved in his hand, the surprise item crinkling under the sudden force.

A mere inch from his own face, emerald eyes shining something genuine, was Yuzu.

"Thank you, Manager," she spoke. And then, softer, "For everything."

And Udagawa supposed, as Yuzu and Mei strolled their luggage back up to their apartment, he shouldn't have been surprised when Yuzu grabbed for Mei's hand.

But the moment the two disappeared from sight, he wasn't able to wait any longer.

The paper in his hand was folded over three times, but it had gone through a little more wear and tear, presumably from being shoved in Yuzu's back pocket. Upon unfolding, he found that it was a letter and that there was actually a second letter folded within the first.

He adjusted his glasses, pulling up the first sheet to read.

 

_Manager,_

_I feel I should apologize for ruining your marriage, but I really can't. I'm more grateful than anything._

_I can't imagine a life without Mei. I love her more than anything, and if it hadn't been for your kindness, Mei might be a married woman by now. You're a nice guy, and we're both lucky to know you, but Mei's heart wasn't in the marriage. She was too stubborn to do what was right for her family to see that._

_Thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the chance to talk to Mei the night I chased after her._

_There will be a special spot for you at our wedding whenever we have it, and I hope that when you come, you will have a date of your own who loves you as much I love Mei._

_— Aihara Yuzu_

 

He flipped to the second page, ignoring the strange stinging behind his eyes and the knot in his throat.

 

_Udagawa-san,_

_You have my deepest appreciation for carrying the burden of my secret for so long. That was something I never should have placed on you. Furthermore, my inane decisions regarding our marriage arrangements did not take your own feelings into consideration, yet you agreed to every one. I thank you for caring so deeply about me._

_However, I cannot imagine life without Yuzu, and I do not know how I ever managed to fool myself into believing otherwise. If there is anything that I can say is truly my own in this world, it is my love for Yuzu, and even if I had gone through with the marriage, I do not think it would have ever been possible for me to staunch my love for her._

_So above all, you have my sincerest gratitude for not listening to me that night Yuzu chased after me. You are a kind man, Udagawa-san, and there are no words adequate enough to describe the depth of my appreciation for you._

_Thank you._

_— Aihara Mei_

 

Udagawa choked on a wet laugh.

Did the two of them not realize how similar their letters were?

It had been rewarding, as short as it had been, to follow a path that would benefit his family, to do something even just a _fraction_ as meaningful as what his brother did for their family.

But this...?

The gratitude from these two dear friends of his, it..

It was far more profound than whatever gratifying sensation the arranged marriage had given him.

He wasn't an emotional guy.

Or maybe he just hadn't had enough experience to develop such a sappy emotional capacity.

Either way, he couldn't recall the last time he had actually cried. And now that his cheeks were wet, he didn't know how to rationalize it.

Maybe, he could explain it in all the small kisses, on cheeks, noses, lips, and everything in between.

Or the glances they shared when they thought no one was looking.

Or their words of affection, genuine and _loving_ and something he certainly never would have heard had Mei been married off to him.

How often could someone say they were _happy_ that their marriage fell through?

Laughter tickled at Udagawa's throat.

He was certainly happy with the outcome. Any other guy would have been overzealous at that kind of a life, one under the Aihara fortune served up on a silver platter.

Maybe he really was an emotional guy, because he was far more happy to know Yuzu and Mei were together than to have that life.

He hadn't missed the moment over dinner, when Mei had offered a piece of fish to Yuzu, one hand occupied with the fork and the other cupped under the food. A giddy light had ignited in Yuzu's eyes, and her lips had parted so childishly, a small _"aaaah"_ in anticipation causing the already-faint blush on Mei's cheeks to darken. Yuzu had thanked her with a full mouth, entirely uncaring if it tasted any good because it had been from Mei, and that, to Yuzu, was all that _really_ mattered.

The exchange had been so short, no more than five seconds tops; but it was a full five seconds that no one else had noticed, a full five seconds where Yuzu and Mei had been content to dote on each other in their own little world.

And if that was what true love was, finding joy in the nothing, the everything, and whatever lied in between that...

Maybe, he could take a page out of their book. And if he were lucky, he could chase after a love as deep as their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back in the manga to double-check how everyone calls each other, but if something sticks out as wrong to you, feel free to correct me! (In particular, I could not find where Udagawa called Harumi's name, but I may have missed it.)
> 
> (Also, I sometimes watch Instagram edits, and [this one](https://www.instagram.com/p/BmeAqSAHvzU/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet) is what finalized the title for this fic, just if anyone happened to be curious!)
> 
> I hope that you have enjoyed! Thank you for reading. :)
> 
> 1.7.19


	4. blossom into some kind of beautiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shou knows he was not a father to Mei. He can't explain the feeling of seeing someone love Mei the way that Yuzu does.

His keys jingled in the lock as he fumbled around the suite case in his left hand, backpack slung over his shoulder, and a bundle of bags hung off his right arm.

A relieved sigh snaked past his lips at that wonderful _click_ of the door unlocking.

It was barely four in the morning, and he didn't expect anyone to be awake; but the moment he took one step inside the house, before he could even _think_ of putting down all of his baggage, there was a palm pressed flat against his mouth.

 _That_ was not a welcome-home greeting he had ever expected to get.

Shou glanced down over the bundle of junk in his arms to find his wife shooting him a rather frightening warning glare.

"Do not. Make a _sound,"_ she whispered.

He nodded, holding his breath. They stood frozen like that for a handful of seconds before Ume pried her hand from his face.

She helped relieve him of the bags and luggage, setting them down beside the door to be dealt with later. Once his body was clear of everything, he sighed and let his shoulders slump.

"Shou-san," Ume whispered, grabbing his attention. With her hand, she gave a _come here_ motion, to which he trailed after her into the apartment.

The pair tip-toed into the space, where a pot of coffee was lightly gurgling on the counter and the warm scent of something cooking over the stove wafted about the room.

Ume leaned up to her husband's ear, cupping her mouth with one hand and pointing towards the living room with her other. "Look."

He followed the direction of her finger; and over the back of the couch, were the tops of two heads, one blonde and one black.

"Mei had a long night working at the school. Yuzu came home to study, but she stayed up waiting for Mei to come home."

Ume pulled back from her husband. He remained there, silently watching as she stepped around the dining room table into the living room. She moved lightly, up until she slipped in front of the couch. She bent down and lifted the blanket—crumpled at the girls' laps—up around her daughters' shoulders.

She, and even Shou from the kitchen, froze as Yuzu produced a sleepy moan. She then fidgeted, pulling the blanket closer around herself. They didn't move until the girl had stilled entirely. Yuzu mumbled something or another under breath—something that sounded suspiciously like the name of the raven-haired girl sleeping next to her—but Ume deemed it safe to move without fear of her daughter waking.

"How did they end up on the couch?" Shou asked, with an apparent zero sense of quietness at _all_ in his voice, just as Ume stepped back into the kitchen.

She swatted his arm and hushed him, and he offered nothing more than a sheepish smile in apology.

Regardless, Ume answered him (much more quietly than he had been). "Yuzu insisted Mei eat dinner. So she waited for Yuzu to heat something up for her, but she didn't last more than five minutes," Ume explained with a small laugh. "And Yuzu, she didn't want to leave Mei by herself out here."

Shou peered down at his wife. There was a softness to her face, a warmth aglow in her eyes and a gentleness to her being.

"I need to get ready for work," his wife's voice cut in, breaking his reverie. "You better not wake them," Ume joked with a false-seriousness in her tone.

And then, with a final look towards her girls on the couch, she stepped out of the kitchen and down the hallway, leaving Shou to himself.

With a final glance of his own at the two girls on the couch, Shou began shuffling around the kitchen, shifting through the fridge and drawers for his own breakfast. Or would this be an extremely late dinner? Either way, he was hungry.

He pulled a mug out from a cabinet above the stove; and just as he topped it off with the coffee that had been brewing, he heard shuffling from the couch. He froze, mid-pour, and the coffee stopped flowing.

A small, sleepy moan reached his ears, and then,

_"Mei?"_

Yuzu.

She was awake, as terribly muddled as her consciousness was at the moment.

He moved slowly, _terribly_ slowly, going to replace the pot on the holder as mechanically as one could to avoid making noise. He grimaced at the small click that the glass pot made upon contact with the holder.

A small sigh from the living room, before a second voice entered the silent apartment:

"Yuzu..? Where... Why are we on the couch?"

Shou smiled. Mei sounded adorably incoherent. He didn't know the last time he had heard his daughter sound so... like her _age._ More like the child she still was.

"You fell asleep before dinner," Yuzu answered.

Shou watched silently from the kitchen as Yuzu careened her head up and planted a soft kiss on Mei's temple, just as the younger girl gave a small, noncommittal "Oh."

"Are you hungry? You didn't eat last night," Yuzu asked.

However, Mei pulled a hand out from under the blanket and covered her mouth as a yawn drew itself from her lungs.

Yuzu laughed, cuddling closer to the younger girl. "Would you rather sleep some more?"

"...sleep."

There was a pause, and Shou dared take a sip of his drink.

It was warm. And a little bitter for his tastes, but he didn't know where either the sugar or cream were, and he wasn't about to rummage through the kitchen in search of them (especially since the cream was somewhere in the fridge, and he was undoubtedly going to make noise just opening the door).

The couch started rustling and making faint squeaking sounds as Yuzu began moving around, turning towards Mei. She wrapped her arms around the younger girl and pulled her to herself.

 _"Come here, sleepy head,"_ she whispered, and Yuzu nuzzled her face against Mei's own in her half-asleep state.

Shou could feel the heat invading his cheeks at the sight.

It started off gently, slowly, but then all at once, Yuzu collapsed along the couch, dragging Mei with her, right on top of the younger girl.

And suddenly, Shou didn't know whether to make his presence known or to make a run for it.

He was their _father;_ he had authority. But his heart was in his throat in fear of something escalating beyond what he could handle—

"Yuzu..." Mei mumbled.

"Yes?"

"Father is coming home today."

Shou decided on doing neither, at least for the moment.

"And?" Yuzu returned.

Shou caught the sigh of irritation from his daughter. "And this is a rather... compromising position."

Yuzu giggled into her raven locks, hugging Mei more tightly. "This is a pretty comfortable position, if you ask me," yet there was a blush to Mei's cheeks (not that Shou could see that, however; but if his daughter were anything like him, then her face was _definitely_ a shade or two darker).

Mei sighed once more, but whatever she said next was nothing but a mumble, right into Yuzu's collar and completely unintelligible from Shou's spot in the kitchen. He couldn't help but chuckle.

When was the last time he had heard Mei sound so... so... Whatever this was? Relaxed? Content?

...Happy?

He nearly jumped right out of his skin by a hand on his shoulder.

"Shou—"

"Shhh," he hushed his wife, pointing over to the couch, just as Ume had done earlier.

From their position, they could just make out the blanket being readjusted over the two girls.

"Am I hurting you?" Mei asked. Her voice was muddled by sleep, and it was growing increasingly more difficult to not just fall straight into that wonderful expanse of _nothingness_ with the warmth that was trapped between them and dragging her consciousness so much more fervently there.

"Mm-mm... I'm really comfy," Yuzu consoled.

"Do you have any sugar?" Shou whispered, pointing to his mug.

Ume nodded and stepped around him, back towards a drawer near the stove. She pulled out a small, clear container and handed it to her husband.

She turned back around towards the cabinets to pull down another mug; and he realized, right as he opened the container, that he had no spoon. He sighed, not willing to risk whisper-shouting to Ume for it.

Instead, he began pouring the sugar directly into his cup.

_"Wait."_

Half the jar of sugar fell straight into his cup, while Ume jolted.

That single word had been louder than anything else in the last however long Shou had been home.

"What time is it?"

Both Ume and Shou could see Mei propping herself back up, blanket unraveling from her shoulders and hair falling like a messy curtain over her face.

 _"Meeeeeeei,"_ Yuzu whined lightly in response, and she wrapped her arms up around Mei, intent to drag her back into the embrace. "It doesn't matter. It's the weekend—or did you forget?" she teased.

Mei huffed and relented. She let Yuzu pull her right up under her chin.

And then, in a softer voice: "You look tired."

"You make me aware of that quite often," Mei returned, and once more her words were muffled against Yuzu's neck.

Yuzu chuckled and readjusted the blanket, wrapping it right up to Mei's shoulders. "Because you work too hard."

There was no response. A muddy, nonsense of a noise, yes, but no true response.

"Mei?"

Nothing.

Shou and Ume could just barely make out the sound of Yuzu's sigh. It filled them with a sense of content, just as the sigh had probably been produced as a result of. And then, softly,

"Goodnight, Mei."

"...Goodnight, Yuzu."

Something was burning on the stove. It was nothing to be worried over, except for the stench that would definitely linger for the remainder of the day.

"Shou-san?"

He blinked.

"What's wrong?"

His eyes were watery. He was glad for the dim lighting because, otherwise, Ume would have been able to see the glassy look to them. The faint smell of the burning food was growing more apparent, but he could hardly focus on that at the present moment.

"Mei's... _happy,_ isn't she?" he asked.

Not even in her childhood could he recall such... nonchalance. There wasn't an ounce of the Aihara stodgery that had been commanded of her under his own tutelage—until he had done a complete 180 on the family, that is. And after that, it had been even more rigorously drilled into her how to _act_ for the Aihara name, even if it had been under her own volition.

Suddenly hands were slipping over his own, on top of his hold on the mug.

"Very."

That one word was like a weight off his chest, a weight that he had carried for _years,_ from knowing that he had not been a father to Mei—the only thing he _should_ have been. He had jumped from a strict, disciplined teacher to a carefree, _selfish_ individual, neither of which really screamed "father of the year."

But in the same breath, it was like a knife, plunged and twisted into his gut because everything about this screamed failure. His failure to be _anything_ for his daughter. And not just a failure to _be_ anything, for there was far more to it than that. By the time he had realized that Mei had gone and grown up—far too quickly for her age—it was too late. Her childhood was gone, and her ability to look at her self as anything but an Aihara heir...

It had nearly locked her into a business-venture of a marriage.

It had nearly erased this side of Mei entirely.

Shou swallowed thickly. "I know that we married for this reason, so Mei could have a family, but... I never thought that this would be the outcome. Not, well, to this extent."

Ume chuckled, finally pulling down another empty mug from the cabinet.

"I don't know how I can ever repay you," Shou muttered.

"Shou."

He turned, and there was a new mug of coffee held out to him. Ume took the one in his hands and dumped the defiled contents into the sink.

She set the emptied mug down and walked up behind her husband. She offered him a soft smile, resting her palm atop his arm in comfort.

"There's nothing to repay." Her smile turned slightly into one of amusement then, as though she could not fathom she had to explain such a simple concept to her husband. "This is what family is for."

 

* * *

 

It was at lunch the following day that he noticed how much... _more_ Mei became around Yuzu.

She was happy, if by no other reason than the small smiles that peppered her face when the older girl spoke to her.

And, in turn, he noticed how much more Mei herself talked.

How her cheeks turned pink as Yuzu offered up a forkful of her own meal.

And how Mei accepted it, then how Yuzu patiently waited to see her reaction.

How Mei would try to spark a conversation on the mundane with Yuzu, something Mei had never done with him.

And something he had never done with her.

"Mei."

He had interrupted the conversation that Yuzu had just struck up with his daughter, but there was a pounding in her ears, a bit of nerves formed from the knowledge that he was going outside of his comfort zone, outside of both their norms.

"How has school been?"

He winced.

He wanted to strike up the mundane, but _school_ was perhaps not the best topic to bring up between the two of them, not with the history the academy carried between him and his daughter.

However, Mei righted herself towards him in her chair, hands clasped together atop the table. Her head tilted ever so to the left, as though in confusion.

"What about school?"

To Mei's right, Shou could just make out the gentle upturn to Yuzu's lips. At least she seemed aware of his intentions, poor as they were.

He laughed, though it was too obviously a nervous laugh. "How are you doing? Any classes giving you trouble?"

And, perhaps, that was the right thing to say. It had nothing to do with the future of the academy, nothing to do with the more _intimate_ matters, no.

He was curious regarding her school life and her troubles as a student—which happened to be all that Mei needed to return his casual conversation.

And for once, Shou felt as though he were talking to Mei not as an Aihara heir, nor as some estranged parental figure, but as her father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you have enjoyed reading! This chapter was primarily written all the way back in November, but I just never got around to finishing it and sprucing it up. I referred back to the early chapters of the manga in regards to the honorifics, but please feel free to correct me if I used them incorrectly!
> 
> I want to thank you for reading this little series of mine; and if you are hoping for more, I have to apologize, as I do not know when I will be adding another chapter. I certainly have more ideas, but writing them out has not come to fruition. I have reached a very happy point in my life, and so the time I spend writing has decreased quite a lot. ❤
> 
> Thank you guys for all of the wonderfully kind words you have left me already. I appreciate them all. :)


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